State of the Industry 2011

A Look at What's Happening in Recreation, Sports and Fitness Facilities

By Emily Tipping

The vast majority of respondents said they form partnerships with other organizations in order to fulfill their mission. Only 14.9 percent of respondents said they do not partner with any other organizations. Among respondents, the most popular partners were local schools (58.4 percent of respondents partner with them), local government (50.5 percent) and nonprofit organizations (44.5 percent). (See Figure 7.)

There was very little change from last year in terms of the percentage of respondents partnering with specific types of organizations, with one exception. Health care and medical facilities seem to be increasing in popularity. Last year, 17.4 percent of respondents partnered with such facilities, while this year, that number is up to 20.1 percent.

There also was little change in the tendency of specific segments of the industry to form partnerships. For the most part, respondents from specific facility types were slightly less likely to report that they form partnerships this year than last. For example, while 95.2 percent of last year's parks respondents said they partner with other organizations, this year, that number dropped by one percentage point to 94.2 percent. One notable exception was among camp facilities. Last year, around two-thirds (65.9 percent) of these respondents said they partner with other organizations, but this year that number jumped to three-quarters (75 percent). (See Figure 8.)